"KATASKOPOPOLIS."

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2758, 29 April 1916, Page 14

"KATASKOPOPOLIS."

THE CITY OF SPIKS (By J. M. N. Jeffries. .Sporitil. C'oitoiipoudont to tho "Daily Mail.") A thong, February 17. Kntaskopopolis is mil. the mi mo of one of tho gentlemen recently rofuriii'd to tho Greek Chamber by » i l-hum|iliijt minority; it means "Oily of Spies, and is tho latest and not the pnnnhml. tillo of Athens, lint «h a title H. in only too well deserved. Thorn in, I suppose, hero in Athens 10-dny ninro furtivenoss to the cubic onroildrop, iiioro midnight, whispering, imiro slouthory than anywhere else ill I'hiropo. Tlio whole of tho city is i;ivon oyer lo evil propaganda; four hundred individuals have within a month taken mi some sort of cnitnoofion with Iho iioorol, police, promising lads am already being brought up lo tho information lutniness, and in any ciisiml gathering of ten seoro persons, in, fin 1 example, any of the larger cafes, when they are full at tho report hour, I here is probably present tho following perccnfnuo of craft: Sixteen prnfeswioiuil spies, live spy-destroyers, four dealers in cnnlmbaud, throe or four ngontii-prnvnoH-teurs, six {loggers, miscellaneous watchers ami loiterers, n niyslorloun, woman or two, and half a down masculine oddmonts whose fortunes have been fold by Huron von SclicnK (sineo departed with abrupt alacrity). Who is Huron von Scheldt? _ Huron von Schonok is n, little, bald, dissohilo man, who began life somewhere in Kultnrin; cmlm-ed the vicissitudes of uulilo families; was Professor of Moral. Kennomy in a shorf-luinded university; fell-, the Drang naeh Kssen; Kriippcd-up in Athens not long before the war; when tho war began was ollieially made local director of Wolff's Agency, but been me, in point of fact, a philanthropist. Tho Gorman Corruption Sorvlco. hi the space of eighteen months ho has established himself as tho greatest philanthropist Grocco has over scon, for ho has none of these hesitations about descrvinguess, about the wortliinoss to roceivo alum or not of protcgos, which have assailed at ouo timo or another tho most gonoi'ously minded of men. To von Sehenk thero is no ono sordid, no ono'outcast, no ono vile. If. a man comos to him and says, "I'vo boon in prison most of my lilo and l'vo nover eariied an honest sou," von Schonk says to him, "Poor soul! How I fool drawn to you I" Forgers como to him and state tho facts about 'thoir past plainly; tho trusting baron answers, "Don't let's look at tho past; think of tho future You'vo talent; you shall write lottors for mo." Even to tho confirmed nutrdorer ho says, "Patience, friend, pationco; thoro may yet ho bopo." l'coplo who are despised and repelled by all tho rest of tho world say of von Sehenk that ho has. a heart of gold. ' I bopo I have made myself clear. Von Sehenk is the chief of the Gorman Corruption Service in Greece, and lias in his very good pay all the criminals and crooks of the country whom lie considers able enough, it is he who has turned Athens :nto Katuakopopolis, and he and his co-workers"* have dono as much harm to the Allied cause in Grocco' as droves of hguting men. Though among theso co-workers must bo counted Baron von Granc>j tho (as lie is called*bore) German submarine attache, and other legitimate offspring of tho German and Austrian Legations, Schonk obtains most of his effects through the sous of tho Levant. The Spy University. Thes9 parish helpers of his are not left to their own devices. l''a'r from it. At the corner of Hodos Phoidiou and Hodos Cliarilaou Tricoupi, almost at tho junction of this last street and that broad Leophoros Pauepistemiou (or University Avenue), in whoso pillared frontages Athens tries to recover something of tho spirit of its past, stands another of tho war-triumphs of our enemies. This is the Spy University, founded by Baron von Schonk 'for the higher education, of Germanophilos. It is an emblematic building, with its back door much finer, much richer than its front, and on its roof-top amid other statues tho statue of a goddess, unusually voluminous of attiro, representing no doubt tho Clothed Truth. Iu one arm sho holds a horn of plenty and with the disengaged hand points backwards over her'shoulder. "Apply," sho seoms to say, "apply to tho men of mark within." . ' ■ The teaching staff of the university —tho baron himself being, of course, bursar—are mostly genuine examples of tho German professor. They are supposed to be still intent, with, .scientific disregard of the present world-upheaval, upon tho archaeological research they once pursued iu this neighbourhood. But their real work is to put a series of pupils through a syitomatisod course 6f spy-study, which course, as far as indiscretions havo levealed it, is a very practical course. Students aro taught tho best ways of sending news in secret; they aro made to acquire a thorough knowledge of French and British handwriting; thoy learn liow to tap a telogiaph wire; they aro primed with information about anyone at all prominent in public life;.thoy are especially instructed in tho uso of money. Most of thorn are, of courso, full of knowledgo' on theso and kindred points already, but Schonk's establishment realises one of tho truo functions of a university; it confirms and adorns all previous knowledge Schonk's Scholarships. A Sehenk man is like no ordinary spy; thoro is a chrism on his brow, thorn is an unction on 'his palm. Graduates of tho S.'U. are well looked after. Tho baron lias boon known to give liFtoon hundred draebmai (£6O) as a brain-warming gift for a fust picoo of work which pleased him. Those who 'aro permanently employed by him aro guaranteed full support for themselves and dependants (though few of thorn have any domostio tios) for tho period of tho war. Only a fortnight ago a lady student gob ono hundred dnichmai for walking across a cafe and finding nut the nnmo of a man, who as things happened made no secret of it. These interim gifts, given by him during the progress of education il.m>!f, are known to scoffers ns Schonk's scholarships. Hut it would bo unjust lo end without sfftno reference to two of the most remarkable Sehenk men, Alfredo Cnpulo anil — Itossini. Both havo just Hone down from the S.U. and aro engaged iu "Kxloiiiiinn" work, in Kntaskopiipiilis. Until hud brilliant careers in (lie school of ll»> world oven before punning fliroiiish I'rol'esNor von Scheldt's lunula, Alfredo linn had long notices written liy the lilglie.it police nulhorifios in niMiiy papers nf the Levant., and was inn.'of flic Itllo Moiidrns I'lizonion in provniif-iiinriihiil law. The great wonder is flint the military authorities haviutr hml him in their hands over reh.iiMi.d him mid lei him reach Athens. Alfredo has, lunveyer, i; worthy eoni|i(>,,|. |n ... ... ( who specialised in fraud hull, in Coiisliiuliimpii' mid Smyrna and him won i»nvciii veins' ril'Jif of free enIrv in tin. orisons of llis Majesty the Kin,.. ,il llulv. The two eonlleuion see lliuini vnn (-'chunk,rogiiliirlyjiiuil Huron von Cnuiry now and Ihcil, and in their | H .,. lime iin- iniilevMunil l» be working on nn "Atii'liliMid Life, of Monsieur Voiil/.n10n."